


Laughing Matters

by EmpressofTears



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Aged Up, Bisexual Mike Wheeler, Dick Jokes, First Kiss, Fluff, Gay Will Byers, Getting Together, Humor, M/M, Mutual Pining, the party ships it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-03
Updated: 2017-12-05
Packaged: 2019-02-09 20:30:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,739
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12896184
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmpressofTears/pseuds/EmpressofTears
Summary: It’s the fall of their senior year and Will just got his wisdom teeth taken out. Mike, Dustin, and Lucas came to hang out while he’s drugged up on pain meds and some embarrassing confessions slip out (not that Will’s going to remember any of them).Now Mike has to deal with the fact that his best friend is in love with him and figure out why exactly he’s excited by the idea of kissing Will. (Hint: he’s got an itty bitty crush of his own.)





	1. Chapter 1

**** Mike, Lucas, and Dustin entered the Byers’ house and found it eerily quiet. Joyce had asked them to come over and watch Will while she was at work. He had gotten his wisdom teeth taken out that morning and still had the pain medication in his system. 

“Hey, Will?” Lucas called. “We’re here. Where are you?” 

“I think I’m in a room,” Will called back vaguely, and the boys saw a small hand flutter above a couch in the living room. They marched over with purposeful strides and found Will curled up on the sofa, smothered in blankets. His cheeks were puffed up like a chipmunk. 

“Oh my god,” Will shrieked as soon as he saw his friends. Then he started crying and laughing. “You’re here you came to visit me I love you guys so much you’re my bestest friends ever you’re amazing and you’re perfect and  _ oomf--” _

Will had tried to stand up from where he was laying on the couch but ended up on the floor instead. Mike rushed forward to steady him and stop him from hurting himself more. 

“Let’s get you back on the couch, huh, buddy,” Mike said, gently pulling Will upright enough to slide him back onto the sofa cushions that would be his home for the next couple days while he recovered. 

He was mostly successful (Will was so small compared to him, Mike had no trouble lifting him up) but Will’s arms slipped around Mike’s torso and pulled him down onto the couch with him. With Will snuggled up on top of him, Mike was helpless. He couldn’t move, or he’d upset his poor drugged-up friend. He cast a bemused smile toward Lucas and Dustin. They just shrugged back at him with the words  _ You’re on your own, man _ passing silently across the room. 

“How are you feeling, Will?” Lucas asked, snatching a blanket as he walked past Will’s nest and claiming a seat close to the TV. “Is the laughing gas making you loopy?”

“They took my teeth,” Will said solemnly. “But they did not take my fingers.” 

“Alright then,” Lucas laughed. “It’s good that you still have your fingers. I know I was really worried you were gonna lose them.” 

“They’re the best part of my body,” Will assured his friend. “They can do all sorts of things. Like bend! My fingers bend. See?” Will crooked one of his fingers to show off his prowess. “Nothing else in my body bends.” 

“Nothing? Like nothing at all?” Lucas prodded, trying to figure out how much the drugs were affecting him. 

“So, Will, do you want to watch a movie?” Dustin interrupted, already turning on the TV. “We’re here for the afternoon, and I don’t think you can do much but sit there.” 

“No.” Will spat the word out like it was venom. 

“No?” 

“No,” Will shrieked again, sounding almost hysterical as his arms tightened around Mike. “I want cuddles. Not movies.” 

Dustin grinned widely. “Well, okay, Mike’s giving you cuddles now, but we can also watch a movie. I think you can handle doing both. How does Star Wars sound?” 

It took Will a couple seconds to think about it. “Okay,” he finally sighed. “Cuddles. Cuddles and movie.” Then he burrowed his head into the softness of Mike’s sweater and let out a contented hum.  

Mike just snorted and shuffled around on the couch to get more comfortable. If Will needed cuddles to recover, then Mike was going to give him cuddles. But he didn’t know what to do with his hands. Should he rest them on Will’s back? Leave them pinned awkwardly at his sides and suffer the pins and needles that would come with his eventual loss of blood flow? 

He ended up settling one hand on the small of Will’s back and running the other through Will’s silky hair. He’d cut it a while back and no longer had the bowl cut of their childhood, but Mike still loved Will’s hair. He loved how soft and smooth it was, and there were never any tangles. 

Halfway through the movie, Will started mumbling, but with his face pressed into Mike’s chest, none of his friends could make out his words. 

“Are you talking to us?” Mike asked him, but Will kept his head down. 

“What’s up, Will?” Lucas said after a few seconds passed with no response. “Are you alright?” 

“I can’t feel my lips,” Will said, his face freed from Mike’s sweater when he looked at Lucas. “I feel tingles in my cheeks, but I don’t know where my lips went. What if I lost my lips?” He was getting frantic. “What am I going to do without lips?”

“Are lips really that important, Will?” Dustin asked. 

“Yes!” Will said, shooting upright and almost elbowing Mike in the face. “I need my lips! They’re the most important part of my body!” 

“I thought your fingers were the most important part?” Mike said, trying to coax Will into laying down again. 

Will swiveled his head, and Mike was reminded vaguely of an owl twisting itself all the way around to see behind itself. Then Will asked, “How am I supposed to kiss you if I don’t have any lips?” 

Rest in peace Michael Wheeler, gone from the world after only seventeen years. Cause of death?  ~~ William Byers ~~ Heart attack. 

This had to be the work of the laughing gas, Mike thought desperately. There was no way Will would actually want to kiss him. And in that moment, Mike was uncomfortably aware of their positions: he was still sprawled out on the couch and Will was sitting on top of him, straddling his waist. If he had walked in on anyone else sitting like that, he would have immediately turned around and given them some privacy. And with what Will just said… Mike shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. He didn’t need to picture that right now. 

“Tell us, Sir William, why do you want to kiss Mike?” Dustin said in a regal, posh voice, but his shit eating grin kept him from true mastery of the character. 

“I don’t think he means--” Mike stuttered, laughing nervously as Will’s eyes turned to him. He blushed under the scrutiny but found that he couldn’t look away. 

“Because he’s beautiful,” Will crooned, ignoring Mike’s attempt to change the subject. “Look at his face. He’s got soft, kind, happy eyes. I love his eyes, and how can you not want to kiss someone with eyes as pretty as his? They’re such a warm shade of brown.” 

Will’s warm hand settled on Mike’s jawline and he brushed the pad of his thumb across Mike’s cheek. “And he’s got freckles!” Will continued. “I love Mike’s freckles. I want to take a marker to them and connect all the dots. I want to draw constellations on his face, but I don’t think he’d let me.” Will pouted a little, and Mike’s heart turned to soup at the way his bottom lip curled. “But I don’t think Mike likes his freckles.” Mike blushed. Will knew him really well. He used to hate his freckles and wish for smooth, unblemished skin instead of the spots all over his cheeks. “I wish I could show him how beautiful they are,” Will whispered softly, staring deeply into Mike’s eyes. 

Will kept gushing about him, but Mike was trapped in his thoughts. What did all of this mean? 

It was Will’s roaming hands that finally pulled Mike out of his head. He caught the tail end of Will saying, “--but look at his hair, it’s so wild and curly.” He just lay there, frozen as Will’s fingers slipped into his curls and he listened to his best friend monologue about him. This conversation was heading strange places, and Mike vaguely wanted Will to stop talking so suggestively in front of their friends, but a larger part of him was too entranced by Will’s compliments to stop him. 

“Every time I tug on it he makes this little squeaking sound, but I can’t do it too much because he doesn’t know that I know. And if he knows that I know, then he’ll stop letting me touch his hair. But it’s so cute, I just want to kiss him and pull on his hair and listen to him moan for me.” 

To prove his point, Will’s fingers tightened around a clump of Mike’s hair and tugged gently. Mike couldn’t stop the little noise that traitorously escaped his mouth. He blushed bright red, but he was powerless to do anything to stop Will. He was putty in the other boy’s hands. 

“Why don’t you kiss him now?” Lucas asked innocently. If looks could kill, Mike would have murdered him on the spot. No, he didn’t want Will to kiss him. Why would he? He really didn’t. Did he? 

“I don’t--” Mike tried to say, but was cut off by Will wailing, “I don’t have any lips! I can’t kiss him if I don’t have lips!” 

“That is a good point,” Dustin interjected. “We need to find those lips for you.”

Feeling the need to escape this obnoxiously sexual conversation, Mike carefully pulled himself out of Will’s clutches and rolled off the sofa. Will whined at the loss of his cuddle buddy, but didn’t try to follow him. 

“I’m getting a snack, do you guys want anything?” Mike tried (and failed) to stop his voice from cracking and ignored the knowing looks Dustin and Lucas were giving him. “Will? Do you need some food? More water?” 

Will didn’t respond. He just stared at Mike with a strange look on his face. “You’re so tall, Mike,” he murmured, still looking him up and down with wide eyes. “You’re so  _ tall _ , I bet your dick is  _ huge _ .” 

Mike choked a little and felt his face flame up. Lucas giggled and snorted, and Dustin fell off his chair because he was laughing so hard. Will wasn’t fazed, though. He kept staring at Mike as if nothing had happened. 

“I probably couldn’t fit the whole thing in my mouth--” 

“Yeah, I’m leaving now,” Mike interrupted and rushed out of the room, his blush spreading all the way to the tips of his ears. Dustin’s cackling chased him into the kitchen, but Mike couldn’t be bothered to care. All he knew was that he needed to get out of that room, take some deep breaths, and calm down. 

Will didn’t mean any of this, Mike kept telling himself. It was the drugs, the surgery, the way Lucas and Dustin were laughing at what he said and encouraging him to say more. Will didn’t actually think about him like that. 

Mike tried to crush the fleeting hope that flickered through him, the little  _ what if _ that his heart whispered to his brain. 

There was no way Will actually liked him, right? There was no hope that Mike’s feelings were reciprocated, unless… 

Unless Mike believed that everything Will just said was an accurate reflection of his normal, lucid thoughts. Then they were both complete idiots and had been wasting precious time dancing around their feelings. A slow smile spread across Mike’s face at the thought. The more time he spend reflecting on Will’s actions and the events that had just transpired, the more confident he felt about his theory. 

But what would the others say? 

They were fine with Will being gay. That was a fact. And Lucas and Dustin just sat through Will’s soliloquy about how much he loved Mike’s face, so they’d most likely be okay with their relationship (assuming Will even wanted a relationship). They even seemed to enjoy it. Max and Eleven would be supportive, of course they would be, they were amazing friends. 

He just… Mike slammed his fist on the counter, frustrated with life. 

Why were emotions so complicated? 

Loving Will was so easy, he hadn’t even noticed it when it started. Then it took over his life and crept into every crevice of his being and he wouldn’t have it any other way. 

He wanted more than anything else to settle into a comfortable relationship with Will (something they should have done years ago, honestly). But the hardest part was confessing. Mike had to tell Will all of this; he had to look him in the eye and bare his soul and risk years of their friendship. And what if he did it wrong? What if Will didn’t feel the same way? 

He would lose everything. 

Finally, Mike returned to the living room. Lucas raised his eyebrows slightly, but didn’t say anything so Mike ignored him. He found Will fast asleep on the couch, and felt a pang of guilt in his heart when he settled onto the couch next to him, pulling his head gently onto his lap. Will looked so small when he was curled up under all those blankets. Was he taking advantage of his friend by holding him so close when he wasn’t able to think clearly? Was he a terrible friend for enjoying their cuddling so much? 

Half an hour passed in relative silence. Mike, Dustin, and Lucas finished watching the movie and Will kept sleeping. It felt like they were all avoiding talking about what Will had said, but the glances Lucas and Dustin shared spoke volumes about what they thought. 

Mike obstinately avoided looking at them, focusing instead on Will’s silky hair and way his eyelashes fluttered in sleep. 

He’d tell him eventually. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dustin and Will confront Mike about his feelings. 
> 
> Mike really sucks at talking about emotions. 

“Hi, boys, I’m back,” Joyce called as she stepped in the front door. 

“Shhhhhh,” they all hissed at once, and Joyce walked into the room to see what the problem was. Then she saw her sleeping son curled up on Mike’s lap and laughed lightly. 

“I’m sure sleep is good for him,” she whispered. “Thank you for stopping by and spending time with him.” 

“It was a lot of fun, actually,” Lucas whispered back. “Will was hilarious when he was awake.”

“Oh yeah, we had so much fun, but I think we should go now,” Dustin said, hopping up and collecting his hat and coat. “Gotta let him rest.” 

“Well have a good day, boys,” Joyce said, and kissed each of their cheeks as they walked past her to the door. Last to pass was Mike, having carefully extracted himself from Will’s grip and tucked the blankets around him. “Thank you, Mike,” Joyce said in a low voice so only he could hear her. “He was really excited to see you today.”

Mike blushed, thinking about the things Will had said. “He’s my best friend. I’m always happy to spend time with him.” 

Joyce said nothing but gave him a knowing smile. He returned it briefly and hurried out the door to where Dustin and Lucas were waiting for him. Did everyone know how he felt? Was he the last to realize he was in love with his best friend? 

“Will needs to do more drugs. He’s a riot when he’s out of his mind,” Dustin laughed, slapping Mike on the back as soon as the door closed behind them. 

“I don’t think I’ve laughed so much in years,” Lucas said. “That part when he was freaking out about his lips! That was pure comedy gold right there.” 

Mike stayed silent as they walked to their cars parked on the street. 

“Oh no,” Dustin said, and stopped suddenly. “No, no, no, Michael Wheeler, don’t you dare get emo on us now.” 

“What?”  

Lucas cut in, "You know, get emo? What he means is, don't do that stupid thing you do where you get super moody and stop talking to your friends and then make everyone scramble to figure out what went wrong because you’re too stupid to just sit down and tell us why you’re mad." 

“I don’t do that,” Mike protested, but he wouldn’t meet Lucas’s eye. Maybe he did do that. 

"Hey," Dustin said softly, putting a comforting hand on Mike’s shoulder. "I know it's kind of weird for you with all the stuff Will said. It got a little steamy in there. But think of how hard this is for him. Will has to deal with being different every day and he never says anything.” 

"Yeah, people are always harassing him and calling him slurs. It sucks for him." 

“Exactly. So he keeps his head down and never tells us what he’s thinking. And I don’t like it, but that’s how life is. But now Will had a chance to speak his mind without worrying that he was going to be beaten up and you cannot hate him for that.” 

“Why do you guys think I’d hate him? Or be weirded out by what he said for that matter?” Mike demanded. He knew he sounded unreasonably angry, but he couldn’t handle his friends thinking he’d be such a bigot. 

Lucas and Dustin just shared a look. 

“I mean…” Lucas started, but trailed off as if he didn’t know what words to use. “You kind of live a sheltered life, and you never deal with your problems well. No offense, but you just freak out and stop all rational thought.” 

“Yeah,” Dustin agreed. “And I know for a fact your parents never taught you to accept someone like Will being… different.”

“You mean gay?” Mike asked, furiously. “You think I can’t handle Will being gay? Is that what this is about?” 

“Mike, we’re not saying--” 

“Yes, you are,” Mike yelled. They had reached the end of the driveway, still in view of the Byers’ house, but he couldn’t be bothered to care. “You think I’m some raging homophobe and I’m going to turn my back on my best friend because he’s different than me? That’s bullshit.” 

“We’re not worried about how you feel about the gay part, Mike,” Dustin said slowly. “At least, not really.”

“Then what’s the problem.” Mike was getting frustrated. 

“It’s how Will feels about you,” Lucas said finally, since Dustin obviously didn’t want to. “Whatever you do, Mike Wheeler, you cannot stop being Will’s friend because he loves you." 

"Yeah that's like the stupidest reason ever," Dustin threw in. “No one controls who they fall in love with.” 

“He doesn’t love me!” Mike shouted, surprising even himself with the pain in his voice. He took a deep breath and tried to say more calmly, “He just said that stuff because he was on the pain meds. He won’t remember any of this. He only said it because you guys egged him on.” 

“Bullshit,” Lucas said. “That kid has loved you for years.” 

“It’s true, Mike. He looks at you like you hung the moon and stars, if you’ll forgive the cliche.” 

"But guys...." Mike tried to say before Dustin cut him off. 

“Seriously, Mike, it’s not a problem,” he said. 

"Guys!" Mike waved his hands to get their attention. "I need to say something and I can't do that if you keep lecturing me." 

"Then say it. But if it's anything mean, I swear to god we will--" 

"It's not. I promise it's not." Mike took a deep breath. “I… I think… The stuff Will was saying…” he was waiting for someone to cut him off, but his friends didn’t interrupt him. They let him talk, which he thought was almost worse than if they had kept yelling at him. This way he had to confront reality.

“They way he feels about me… I think I feel the same?” He mumbled and blushed bright red. Lucas and Dustin just stared at him.  

"Are you saying what I think you're saying?" Dustin whispered. 

"I think I like boys?" Mike said, though it came out as more of a question than a statement. "And I think I really like Will." 

“Oh my god, you know,” Dustin giggled. Then he turned to Lucas and said again, “He knows.”

“He actually knows,” Lucas responded with voice a full octave higher than usual as he slapped Dustin’s hand in a high five. 

“Wait, what? I’m confused,” Mike said, furrowing his brow. “What do I know?” 

“That you like Will!” said Dustin as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. 

“We’ve been waiting literal  _ years _ for you guys to figure this out.” 

“What?” 

“Yeah you’re always staring at each other and cuddling during movie nights. It was super obvious. At least Will figured out his feelings and told us,” Lucas conceded. “But then we had to suffer through a whole year of him actively pining after you. I never thought you would have figured it out on your own, though.” 

“Why wouldn’t I have figured it out?” Mike asked, still extremely confused. “It’s kind of a big part of my life?” 

Lucas just glanced at him oddly. “Dude, you’re like the most oblivious person in the world. We thought it was gonna be the end of senior year before you realized how much you love Will.”

He said it so casually, just threw that word into the cold autumn air and let it rip a hole in Mike’s heart. Was this really love? 

“Is that why you guys were encouraging him so much today? Were you trying to set me up with a loopy Will so I would confront my undying love for him and sweep him off his feet with some romantic gesture?” Mike was feeling hysterical. He couldn’t believe how little faith his friends had in him.

“Well…” Dustin shrugged. “It worked, didn’t it?”  

Mike sputtered and tried to defend himself but even he had to admit… The Realization did come thanks to them. 

"Oh my god," Lucas said. "This is perfect for you. You can tell him now." 

"Yeah man, you know he wouldn't reject you. He's been in love with you for years." 

"I know," Mike whispered. “At least, I think I know. I’m really confused right now.” 

"So what's the hold up?" Dustin prodded. “Why aren’t you marching in there to get your guy? Shouldn’t you be over the moon?” 

"I just... what if I mess this up?” Mike asked softly. “What if I don't actually like Will because I'm straight or something so I break his heart and--" 

"Stop right there, buddy," Dustin interrupted, "you're gonna talk yourself out of this, and I can't handle that level of pining from the both of you. You will turn around right now and go back to his house and you will tell him how you feel. Let's go, right now, Lucas and I will be moral support." 

"What? No, Dustin, that's a stupid idea," Lucas said. 

"Lucas, do you really want to sit next to these idiots while they're making lovey eyes at each other but never acting on their feelings and living sad, regretful lives forever?" 

Lucas scoffed. "Hell no, but they're gonna do the stupid lovey-eyes thing that no matter what. What I'm saying is, he can't go over now, and we can't go with him." 

"And why not?" 

"Because Will’s drugged up on pain meds, so he won't remember any of it. Then Mike’s gonna have to do it all over again. Take your time and figure out what you're gonna say, Mike. You've got at least two days to think about it, and then Will’s back in the world of the sober." 

“You make some excellent points, Lucas,” Dustin conceded. “So now it’s up to Mike.” 

“I think…” Mike trailed off, staring at the ground. “I think I’ll tell him.” 

He blushed furiously when Dustin and Lucas cheered and slapped him on the back. But he was smiling, too. There was hope for things to go really well with Will. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter: Mike finally gets to have a conversation with Will and these idiots can sort out their mutual pining and obnoxious obliviousness.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mike and Will finally sit down to talk about their feelings and have a conversation they should have had years before.

The two days it took for Will’s pain meds to completely wear off went tortuously slow for Mike. He kept putting off The Conversation until Will was completely himself again. 

At least, that’s what he told himself. 

In reality, he was scared shitless of what he was going to do. But he was more terrified that Dustin and Lucas would step in and try to tell Will instead of him, and he wouldn’t let that happen. Will needed to hear it from him first. 

Then he found himself standing on the Byers’ doorstep and his mind went blank. What was he supposed to say? “Hi, Will. I know you’re my best friend and what I’m about to say might ruin our relationship forever, but I’m madly in love with you. Will you be my boyfriend?” 

Yeah, great. That’ll leave him swooning. 

Just as Mike raised his hand to knock on the door, it swung open and he was almost flattened by an extremely stressed Joyce. 

“Hi,” he said awkwardly, stepping out of her way. 

“Oh good, Mike, I’m so glad to see you!” Joyce crooned, pulling him into a quick hug. “I have to go, I’m late for my shift. Will’s inside, have a nice afternoon!” And just like that she was gone, running to her car and driving away while Mike was still standing on the front porch. 

He let himself in the open door and called out, “Hey, Will? It’s Mike.” He paused, unsure what to say next. “I stopped over to see you.” 

Will emerged from his bedroom looking perfectly disheveled. His hair was mussed up and he had wrapped himself in a soft blue blanket. He was shorter than the blanket, so it trailed behind him like a cape. Mike’s heart beat a little faster at the sight. 

“Hi, Mike,” Will said softly. “My mom just left.”

“Yeah, I passed her on my way in. How are you feeling?” Mike asked, and moved closer to Will. “Do you want to hang out in your bedroom?”

“Yeah… Let’s go sit down,” Will murmured and led the way to his room. “I’m getting really tired of the taste of blood. And I want to eat real food again, not just applesauce and pudding. But at least my thoughts are a lot more organized now than they used to be.” He laughed a little. “Honestly, I don’t remember anything from the day of the procedure. But my mom told me I was saying some weird stuff.” 

Mike laughed with him, glad he didn’t have to awkwardly start conversation. Then he thoguht to himself,  _ Get a grip, Wheeler. This is will, you’ve never had problems talking to him before. Just calm down.  _

“Yeah, at one point you were freaking out because you thought you lost your lips.”

“Was I really?” Will asked, his eyebrows raised in disbelief. “Why?”

Then Mike faltered. What should he say? That Will confessed his love and told the entire room how much he wanted to kiss him? That he described every bit of Mike’s face that he loved in such a sultry tone Mike had to leave the room and think of his grandma? 

Eventually he settled on, “I don’t know, man. You were kind of out of it,” and hoped Will didn’t notice the awkward lull in their conversation. Of course he did, but he didn’t say anything, just nodded and sat down on his bed. He patted the space next to him to invite Mike over. 

“I was sketching.” Will passed the paper over to Mike once he had settled down and pulled a blanket of his own around his shoulders. Then Mike saw his own face looking back at him from the thick drawing paper. He examined the freckles dotting his cheeks, and all he could hear was Will’s voice echoing in his head,  _ I want to take a marker to them and connect all the dots. I want to draw constellations on his face.  _ Those were his eyes, his lips, his curls. His breath caught in his throat when Will said, “I think it turned out okay.”

“Okay?” Mike’s voice cracked. “Will, this is amazing! There’s so many details and the shading is just… it’s amazing. This looks like a photograph!” 

Will didn’t say anything, just blushed and looked at his lap. 

“How long did it take you to do this?” Mike asked, entranced by the picture. 

“Only an hour or two.” Only an hour or two of staring at Mike’s face, committing every detail to the paper and working to make it perfect. The freckles were right, the crinkles around his eyes, even that one stubborn curl on the back of his head that never stayed where it was supposed to. It was perfect. 

The dedication that Will had put into this one picture of him… Mike probably wasn’t supposed to read anything into it, but he felt a surge of confidence in what he was about to do. This could be a sign that Will cared for him, too. Or maybe it was just a picture and he was making something out of nothing. But what if he wasn’t? 

Mike looked up from the paper and his eyes caught Will’s. He didn’t say anything at first, just regarded him softly and dug deep inside himself for all the courage he could muster. Will, to his credit, didn’t look away. They sat there for a few heartbeats, just looking in each other’s eyes. 

“Hey, Will?” Mike whispered softly. He didn’t need to. They were the only ones in the house. 

“Yeah?” Will whispered back. 

“Can I kiss you?” 

“Yeah,” Will breathed, and Mike leaned in slowly. 

Their lips met, soft and sweet and warm. It wasn’t a frantic kiss, but it was passionate: years of love and adoration and pining pouring out into one soft brush of their lips. Mike pushed himself closer to Will, seeking more contact, more energy, more evidence that this was real. Will responded in kind, deepening the kiss and tilting his head a little to the side to let Mike in. 

And it was perfect. 

Sure, they were sitting next to each other and the angle left them both twisting awkwardly. They bumped their noses together and clicked their teeth and didn’t know how to move their lips, but when they pulled away gasping for air, they were both smiling widely. 

“Wow,” Will giggled. 

“Yeah,” Mike agreed. “Wow.” 

“Where did this come from?” Will asked once he caught his breath. Then he blushed. “Okay, maybe not the best thing to say right now. I’m not complaining, I’m just wondering…” 

Mike blushed too and looked down at his lap in embarrassment. “Honestly, this started two days ago. You kept hitting on me when you were high on pain meds, and I guess I realized how much I liked it. How much I like you.” 

“What?” Will squawked, “I did  _ what _ ? Tell me everything.” 

“You wanted to cuddle a lot,” Mike laughed, grabbing Will’s hand and lacing their fingers together. 

“Not completely out of the ordinary,” Will interrupted but Mike plowed on. 

“And then you were complaining to Lucas and Dustin about how much you wanted to kiss me--while you were sitting on top of me, I might add--and I just… I don’t know, I realized that I felt the same. I wanted you to kiss me.” 

“I… I did that?” Will asked, horrified at his past self’s actions. “Wait, did I actually kiss you? Did I miss my first kiss?” 

“No,” Mike let out a bark of a laugh, “no, you didn’t kiss me. You were too busy freaking out because you didn’t have any lips.” 

“Well this is embarrassing,” Will said and snuggled closer to Mike, resting his head on his shoulder. “But at least I got this out of it.” 

Mike hummed in agreement and pulled Will closer. They sat like that in silence for a couple minutes, just enjoying the peace. 

“What is ‘this,’ Will?” Mike asked. “Are we… dating?”

“Do you want to be?” Will asked in return. 

“Yeah,” Mike said softly. “Yeah, I really do. But…” 

“But the world isn’t kind to people like us,” Will agreed. “It doesn’t have to be a big thing. It can just be our thing.”

“As long as you’re my boyfriend, I don’t really care who else knows about us,” Mike whispered and took a moment to realize how lucky he was. 

“Lucas and Dustin and El and Max won’t care about us. They’ll be supportive,” Will reasoned. 

How many people spent years of their life chasing love and never finding it? And here Mike was, holding his boyfriend in his arms. 

“They’re good friends,” Mike agreed. 

Maybe the world wasn’t entirely cruel to people like them. 

“I have so much to say right now, but I can’t put any of it into coherent sentences,” Will finally said. 

“Same with me,” Mike agreed. “Why did it take us so long to get here? I feel like everyone knew we liked each other except for us.” 

Will giggled. “Oh my god, we were so oblivious. Looking back on it, we could have done this years ago but we just never talked about our feelings. Honestly, I don’t know how our friends put up with us.”

“I don’t think they did,” Mike said. “Dustin and Lucas were totally trying to set us up earlier this week. They thought the whole thing was hilarious.” 

“Did I say anything else super embarrassing?” Will asked, looking at Mike with his big eyes. “Anything they’re going to harass me about when I get back to school?” 

“Well… I mean…” 

“What?”

“It wasn’t really anything…” 

“Michael Wheeler, tell me what I said!” Will demanded, and Mike couldn’t resist his pouty face. 

“I mean, at one point you were commenting on how tall I am…” Mike avoided eye contact with Will. “…and then you asked me how big my dick is.”  

“No. Fucking. Way.” 

“I swear to god you said that, Will,” Mike laughed awkwardly. “Dustin and Lucas will back me up if you ask them.” 

Will was blushing bright red and hiding his face in Mike’s shoulder. “If you’ll excuse me, Mike, I need to go die of embarrassment.” He moved as if to crawl off the bed and leave, but Mike grabbed his waist and pulled him onto his lap, which made Will blush even more. 

“Do you really think about that, though? Do you wonder about my dick?” Mike asked. 

He didn’t get a response. 

“Will?” 

“Leave me alone,” he muttered, but he was smiling. Mike just laughed and pulled his boyfriend closer. 

“I’m glad we sorted this out,” he said before kissing the top of Will’s head gently. 

“So am I,” Will whispered. “So am I.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it! We've made it to the end! Thank you to everyone that's made it this far, I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I did writing it.
> 
> Honestly though, when I wrote the part leading up to the kiss where they're whispering to each other all I could think of was
> 
> Will: tell the world you love me  
> Mike: *whispers* i love you  
> Will: why'd you whisper?  
> Mike: cuz you're my world  
> Will: bro  
> Mike: bro


End file.
